Long, long day today as our Cuban adventure took us to Planar del Rio, the Western-most province on the island, and where the tobacco and coffee is grown. It's a 2 1/2 hour bus ride from our hotel in Havana-- we left at 8:30am and didn't return until close to 9:30pm.

I'll post the official blog once it's posted, and I'm sure they'll be many, many pictures in the gallery. We not only visited a fully self-contained tobacco farm (that also grows tobacco, bananas, sugar cane, and raises chickens), where the head of the family hand-rolled cigars in front of us and handed them to us to "test" smoke. The tobacco growing, leaf picking, drying, fermenting and aging process is all done by hand-- no automation whatsoever, as is the actually rolling and packaging of the cigars. It's no wonder they are so expensive! We then went on a tour of a cave burrowed inside one of the mountains....and finally frequented a market in the small town of Vinales, where we haggled the price of our purchases, before heading off to dinner enroute home.

BTW, some tidbits from our dinner table conversation-- our two JUCO transfers, 1B/LF/DH #3 Chase Sarchet (6'3', 210 lbs) and C/3B #4 Robbie Lammons (5'7", 165 lbs) go by the nicknames of Big Dipper and Little Dipper. Also, you read about Coach Scott Shepperds fishing adventure in the Bay of Pigs in yesterday's blog-- well, he caught both the bonefish and the shark on a fly rod. Pretty impressive!

And here's the latest blog entry from yesterday's adventure-- as promised and expected, the photo gallery is terrific...

http://baseball.blogs.rice.edu/2016/11/3...D62uPkrI2x

...my only quibble with the writeup is that the dinner was horrible-- easily the worst meal (only bad one, really) we've had in Cuba. We were all looking for a McDonalds during the long bus ride home (only half kidding).

A couple quiet, relaxing days in Havana before departing tomorrow morning to the Southwestern-most province on the island, Cienfuego (a 3+ hour drive), and then to the resort province of Varadero, where we'll spend our final day in Cuba (Saturday) on one of the finest beaches in the world.

Yesterday, after the VERY long day Wednesday, the team had the day "off" from cultural activities to attend classes, study and just plain relax by the pool. The alumni group spend the morning at the Hemingway Museum, which is located at his home when he lived in Cuba. Plantation style mansion and grounds with stunning views of the Havana skyline. For dinner, some of us returned to the Hotel Nacional to enjoy cocktails while watching the sun set across the ocean. As we were departing we literally ran into the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was most gracious and insisted on taking a group photo. We capped the evening driving back to our hotel in a pink 1951 Chevy convertable 2-door coupe.

Today I believe the team is going to the Hemingway Museum and a tobacco factory among other cultural events, while we have the day off to go to market and just relax. Unfortunately, it's the one day since we arrived in Havana that is overcast and muggy.

Here's today's (Thursday) blog post-- appears the team had a very busy day after yesterday's "off day"...

http://baseball.blogs.rice.edu/2016/12/0...=hootsuite

Tomorrow we reunite as a group and head have along day in the bus-- first heading to the southeastern-most city of Cienfuego, and then after a late lunch, heading to the beach resort of Varadero, where we will spend our final day in Cuba (Saturday), before flying back home on Sunday.

Well, finally back from a fabulous 11 days in Cuba. The beach resort at Varadero was VERY difficult to leave, and everyone in our group-- especially the team-- would have loved to have spent more than one day/two nights there.

Though we played just the one game, I think everyone left the island glad they made the trip- it was a great experience and many fun times. After having the opportunity to talk to the players over the past couple weeks-- both individually and in a group-- I feel even better about the upcoming season. These guys are very tight as a team, they are really psyched about the season and truly believe this will be the year we get back to the promised land.

The offense, as I've opined before, should be our best since the glory days. A lineup of Warren-Myer-Gray-Proctor-DiCaprio-Chandler-Moss-Wunderlich/Sarchet-Jefferies is pretty formidble, and that 1 - 6 could be as good as any in college baseball, especially if Ryan can return to his Freshman year form.

On the mound, the starting rotation of Myer-Salinas-Amador-Jefferies/Parthasarathy should more than hold their own (let's not forget that Salinas was our most consistent pitcher last year), and a bullpen with Otto as the anchor, Moss and Esquivel as set-up men, and Orewiler, Jefferies/Parthasarathy (whomever's not mid-week) and the Freshmen should be our deepest in years.

Is it February yet?

(12-05-2016 10:26 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Well, finally back from a fabulous 11 days in Cuba. The beach resort at Varadero was VERY difficult to leave, and everyone in our group-- especially the team-- would have loved to have spent more than one day/two nights there.

Though we played just the one game, I think everyone left the island glad they made the trip- it was a great experience and many fun times. After having the opportunity to talk to the players over the past couple weeks-- both individually and in a group-- I feel even better about the upcoming season. These guys are very tight as a team, they are really psyched about the season and truly believe this will be the year we get back to the promised land.

The offense, as I've opined before, should be our best since the glory days. A lineup of Warren-Myer-Gray-Proctor-DiCaprio-Chandler-Moss-Wunderlich/Sarchet-Jefferies is pretty formidble, and that 1 - 6 could be as good as any in college baseball, especially if Ryan can return to his Freshman year form.

On the mound, the starting rotation of Myer-Salinas-Amador-Jefferies/Parthasarathy should more than hold their own (let's not forget that Salinas was our most consistent pitcher last year), and a bullpen with Otto as the anchor, Moss and Esquivel as set-up men, and Orewiler, Jefferies/Parthasarathy (whomever's not mid-week) and the Freshmen should be our deepest in years.

Is it February yet?

BTW, the above is what I think The OG wil go with on the lineup card. I prefer a more balanced righty-lefty lineup, and would also go with Chandler in the leadoff spot (to increase the likelihood he goes back to being an on-base machine as he was his Freshman season). This would be my lineup...

CF Chandler
P/1B/DH Myer
RF Warren
SS Proctor
C DiCaprio/Lammons
2B Gray
1B/P/DH Moss
LF Sarchet/Wunderlich
3B Jefferies

Here's the final two blog entries from the Cuba trip...

http://baseball.blogs.rice.edu/2016/12/0...EXddPkrI2x

http://baseball.blogs.rice.edu/2016/12/0...EXeFfkrI2x

David Ruth and Sully of the Athletic Department did a great job with the blog the entire trip– thanks so much for documenting the adventure and experience in both words and pictures. As a witness in the traveling alumni group, the players genuinely and enthusiastically soaked in the culture and many went out of their way to interact with the local Cuban people. What a great group of student-athletes we have. Sure, they like to have a good time, but they are terrific ambassadors and representatives of the University, and make us proud every day.

Clark Griffith told me the Washington Senators had scouted left handed pitcher Fidel Castro. They did not sign him because his fastball was not fast enough. Clark and I watched a couple of Mexican League games in Mexico City in 1985. He recognized one Yucatan player by his batting stance in the on-deck circle and told me that was Vega who had been up with the Twins for a short time. We visited with Vega after the game.

(12-05-2016 06:39 PM)75src Wrote:  Clark Griffith told me the Washington Senators had scouted left handed pitcher Fidel Castro. They did not sign him because his fastball was not fast enough. Clark and I watched a couple of Mexican League games in Mexico City in 1985. He recognized one Yucatan player by his batting stance in the on-deck circle and told me that was Vega who had been up with the Twins for a short time. We visited with Vega after the game.

Castro had a tryout with the NY Yankees in the late 1940s, when he was still a teenager.

(12-05-2016 09:08 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(12-05-2016 06:39 PM)75src Wrote:  Clark Griffith told me the Washington Senators had scouted left handed pitcher Fidel Castro. They did not sign him because his fastball was not fast enough. Clark and I watched a couple of Mexican League games in Mexico City in 1985. He recognized one Yucatan player by his batting stance in the on-deck circle and told me that was Vega who had been up with the Twins for a short time. We visited with Vega after the game.

Castro had a tryout with the NY Yankees in the late 1940s, when he was still a teenager.

Hmmmm. You might want to relate that info to one/some of these folks, who say those claims are myths:

1) Yale professor Roberto González Echevarría noted in his history of Cuban baseball, the claim that Castro was a star pitcher at the University of Havana and turned down a $5,000 bonus offer from the New York Giants in 1951 to pursue a law degree is nothing more than a reporter's fabrication.

2) Fidel’s most notable chronicler (Tad Szulc) ... points out that (during) Fidel’s ... candid response ... he “emphatically denied” the reported rumors that he once envisioned a career for himself as a professional pitcher in the North American major leagues. (Note: Szulc died in 2001, so he's not reachable today.)

3) Baseball-reference.com: A long-standing myth in America is that Castro tried out for either the New York Yankees or Washington Senators and failed to impress enough to sign a contract; while a fan of baseball, Castro was not a good enough player to warrant such a try-out and there is no record of his having played professionally. It is likely he pitched in intramural competition in college for the University of Havana law school, but he was not good enough to pitch on the college's varsity team.

(Click through to the linked articles to see much more detailed information about and debunking the claims.)

One thing's for sure. He wasn't a left handed pitcher.

Here's the complete riceowls.com photo gallery of the Cuba Trip (with many new, unseen photos) just posted on twitter...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ricepublic...996754150/

KHOU video and article on the Owls' return from their Cuba trip, including brief interviews with The OG and Cody Staab...

http://www.khou.com/sports/rice-baseball.../364716249

Maybe put on a right hand glove for that picture. I think the Senator's scout must have just glanced at Fidel and realized that he did not have enough talent to pursue it any further.

(12-06-2016 09:42 AM)bobreinhold1 Wrote:  One thing's for sure. He wasn't a left handed pitcher.

(12-07-2016 09:41 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  KHOU video and article on the Owls' return from their Cuba trip, including brief interviews with The OG and Cody Staab...

http://www.khou.com/sports/rice-baseball.../364716249

thanks for posting!

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